02 January | Mom

My Mom and I.

She was visiting from California for two weeks and spent three days with my half-brother, who happens to live an hour away. It's a long, in-depth, rather complicated story that maybe someday I will share more but -- I didn't meet my brother until I was in my early 20s. I never met my other half-brother, who lived in Oklahoma, because he died of a massive heart attack at 47. All four of us (my two half-brother, my sister, and I) have weird cardiac conditions, most likely due to the ABCC11 gene mutation, which also happens to cause no body odor. I had two AV nodes, which caused PSVT (heart rate for hours in the 200s). In 2002, I had a cardiac ablation and have been totally fine ever since. This year I took the time to see a cardiologist, who completely cleared me.